By joshua 
Mr. Santos Momoh, the Vice Chairman of Kogi PCRC has cautioned against the engagement of repentant extremist in the country’s security agencies, described it as opening the security apparatus to people with ulterior motives.
Mr. Santos made the disclosure as a guest on a radio program, said according to the US Federal bureau of investigation, described violent extremism as an act of encouraging, condoning, justifying or supporting the committing of a violent act to achieve political, ideological, religious, social or economic goals.
Speaking on the roles of security forces in preventing violent extremism, Mr. Santos mentioned that the first thing that should come to mind about violent extremism is that these people are out to destroy lives and property while law enforcement agents are interested in that same life and property, said the major interest is to protect the citizens of the country.
He called for efforts to put security in place that will allow people move freely in the country and go about there normal businesses.
He said the first thing to do is to solve or combat the issue of violent extremism with intelligent information gathering which is done by the various formations ranging from the DSS, NDLEA, Police Army, Navy, Air Force, Hunters council, all vigilante groups and informants available to all those organizations.
The next he said is to stop the recruiting of extremist by putting up a program or structure to ensure that these bad people don’t have their way and disrupt every activity of extremist.
One of the major useful way of preventing crime and violent extremism he added is to engage in community policing, where the PCRC plays a role in bringing community members and law enforcement agencies in synergy. So that the law enforcement agencies are not called only when there is violence. Once there is synergy or rapport within the community, intelligent information gathering becomes very easy, explaining that security is everybody’s duty.
On how security forces can build trust in community members, Mr Santos Momoh says, relationship takes time and energy to mature, says if we wait till there is a crime before we get to the law enforcement agents there will be no proper securing of the neighborhood.
Towards building the trust in the community, law enforcement he added must create a good rapport with the community because community members are interested in the smooth response of security to their calls. If there is a way that the law enforcement agencies can ensure that they Foster their efforts in ensuring that once there is a distress call they answer immediately, that will build trust.
He equally tasked community members likewise, business owners want to see security patrolling to boost their confidence that the community is free of all manner of crime, said if there is patrol and smooth response to distress call, then there will be so much trust in the law enforcement agencies.
Towards playing critical roles in election, he urged security agencies to be civil and proactive
so as to solve the problem of electoral violence. He added that the level of poverty has to be addressed, government must ensure that there is employment, pointing out that most people go into violence because of their needs.
He said except government addresses the issues raised, violence will continue.
Also government should ensure that there are several training programs for the youths.
Parents he added also have a role to play by watching the type of friends their children keep and teach them according to religion to fear God, want the educational institution to partner with security agencies so that lectures and symposium can be organized for youths.
While responding to issue caller’s raised about how security agents handle information, the guest said the security system has been modified through the social media making it easy to communicate with all security forces. He however said who information is given to matters, the state Commissioner of police or Police public relations officer or D.P.O are people who can be trusted with information.
He urged Community members to ensure that they hold community meetings to know their neighbors and get security tips from law enforcement agents and help to make the roads in the community motor able. Every community should have a security post to stop strangers from coming into their community.
Mr. Santos described extremism as essentially a political term which determines the activities that are not in accordance with the laws of a state and are fully intolerant to democracy as a means of governance. An extremist is a person who goes to the extreme to achieve his aim not minding if there is loss of life and property.
Speaking on the roles of security forces in preventing violent extremism, he mentioned that the first thing that should come to mind when we talk of violent extremism is that these people are out to destroy lives and property and law enforcement agents are also interested in that same life and property.
Our major interest is to protect the citizens of the country. We must ensure that people have their freedom, they can walk freely and go about their normal business. The first thing to do to solve or combat the issue of violent extremism is intelligent information gathering which is done by the various formations ranging from the DSS, NDLEA, Police Army, Navy, Air Force, Hunters council, all vigilante groups and informants available to all those organizations. Next is to stop the recruiting of extremist by putting up a program or structure to ensure that these bad people don’t have their way and disrupt every activity of extremist.
One of the major useful way of preventing crime and violent extremism is to engage in community policing, where the PCRC plays a role in bringing community members and law enforcement agencies in synergy. So that the law enforcement agencies are not called only when there is violence. Once there is synergy or rapport within the community, intelligent information gathering becomes very easy. Security is everybody’s duty.
On how security forces can build trust in community members Mr Santos Momoh says, relationship takes time and energy to mature, if we wait till there is a crime before we get to the law enforcement agents there will be no proper securing of the neighborhood. To build trust in the community, law enforcement must create a good rapport with the community because community members are interested in the smooth response of security to their calls. If there is a way that the law enforcement agencies can ensure that they Foster their efforts in ensuring that once there is a distress call they answer immediately, that will build trust.
Community members likewise business owners wants to see the security patrolling to boost their confidence that the community is free of all manner of crimes if there is patrol and smooth response to distress call, then there will be so much trust in the law enforcement agencies.